Public History
Graduate Certificate
About the Certificate
Public history is the practice of history applied to real-world and public settings, often outside the typical classroom. You’ll find public historians in museums, documentary films, battlefield memorial sites, corporations, law offices, archives, and so much more! The National Council on Public History is the professional organization for the field of public history—visit its blog History@Work, its academic journal The Public Historian, or its newsletter Public History News to learn more.
The certificate requires only twelve credit hours that also fulfill requirements for the Master's degree in History. All certificate students complete an internship as part of the requirements. Graduate students in any program at Virginia Tech can add the public history certificate to their coursework.
If you're not a current Virginia Tech graduate student but you're interested in the Public History Graduate Certificate, you can apply to complete the certificate only and enroll as a part-time graduate student to grow your expertise and career opportunities. To apply, click here and select "graduate certificate" under "application type." When applying for the certificate, please note that the application will show availability for spring, summer, and fall, but we only admit students to start in the fall semester.
Campus:
Virginia Tech Blacksburg Campus
Type of Instruction:
Residential/On Campus
12 hrs
Total Credit Hours
9 hrs
Core Requirement
3 hrs
Elective Courses
Curriculum
The Graduate Certificate requires 12 credits of graduate level coursework in History, 9 of which must be chosen from the department’s public history course offerings and 3 from graduate level courses in history. Public History courses can satisfy both History M.A. and certificate requirements, and students have the opportunity to use public history projects as part of their M.A. portfolio. The 12 credits for the Graduate Certificate are distributed as follows:
- HIST 5424: Public History (3 credits)
- HIST 5964: Field Study/Practicum (3 credits) - 120+ internship hours over the summer or during the semester
- At least one of the following methods courses:
- HIST 5434: Digital History Methods
- HIST 5444: Oral History
- HIST 5454: Topics in Public History
- One additional 3 credit graduate HIST course
Student Internships
Zoe Brooks
Interned at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum; Nashville, TN
Madison Smith
Interned at the Salem Museum; Roanoke, VA
Miles Abernethy
Park Guide with the National Park Service at the Appomattox Court House National Historic Park; Appomattox, Virginia
Sterling Bryant
Interned at the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation
Conrad Hamm
Interned with the National Park Service at the Appomattox Court House National Historic Park; Appomattox, Virginia
Recent Internship Locations:
- Appomattox Court House National Historic Park; Appomattox, VA
- Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum; Nashville, TN
- Salem Museum; Roanoke, VA
- Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation; New Market, VA
- Thomas Balch Library; Leesburg, VA
Faculty Experts in Public, Digital, and Oral History
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E. Thomas Ewing , bioProfessor and Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences | 200 Stanger St., Blacksburg, VA 24061 | Specialties: Eurasia; Medicine; Public; Russian/Soviet; Empires | 540-231-3212 | etewing@vt.edu
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Jennifer Hart , bioProfessor and Chair of the History Department | Specialties: Africa; Urban; Technology; Digital and Public | jenniferhart@vt.edu
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Rachel Midura , bioAssistant Professor | Specialties: Early Modern Europe; Italy; Habsburg Empire; Digital History; History of Information/Communication | rmidura@vt.edu
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Marian Mollin , bioAssociate Professor | Specialties: US Women & Gender; Social Movements; Religion & Politics | mmollin@vt.edu
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Paul Quigley , bioAssociate Professor and Director of Virginia Center for Civil War Studies | Specialties: US Civil War Era; US South | pquigley@vt.edu
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Jessica Taylor , bioAssociate Professor | Specialties: Public; Oral; Native History; Early US | jessicataylor@vt.edu
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LaDale Winling , bioAssociate Professor | Specialties: U.S. Urban; U.S. Political; Higher Education; Architectural and Planning; Digital | lwinling@vt.edu
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Anna Zeide , bioProfessor, Director of the Food Studies Program, and Interim Director of Public History | Specialties: Food; Environment; US | zeide@vt.edu
Follow Us
To learn more about public history events and what students are up to, be sure to follow us on social media!
Contact Us
Anna Zeide, Interim Director of Public History
429 Major Williams Hall
zeide@vt.edu
Cammie Sgarrella, Graduate Coordinator
431 Major Williams Hall
csgarrella@vt.edu